The field of the invention is sporting goods and the invention relates more particularly to inline roller skates. Whereas ice skates may be readily stopped by moving the blades laterally across the ice surface, this does not work for inline roller skates. As a result, other braking systems have been devised to assist the skater to slow down and stop. One such brake is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,883 where a brake pad is pressed against the skating surface. Other constructions for such brakes are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,067,736; 5,052,701; and 5,028,058. There are several deficiencies with this sort of design. Most importantly, the brake typically can only be placed on one of the two skates, or at least only one of the two skates can be used for braking at any one time. Typically, the skate with the brake pad on the back is placed in front of the other skate and tilted rearwardly so that the brake pad rubs against the skating surface. This is often not practical if one is, for instance, going down an incline and merely wants to slow down slightly. Furthermore, because the braking is done only on one skate, it tends to turn the skater and generally limit his control. The brake pad cannot effect a quick stop without loss of control, except for a very good skater. With few exceptions, such a device is very dangerous to a skater.